I 💙 Aquariums

We have three aquariums now. If Chase seals the leak in the fourth one, I’ll grow plants in it, and maybe, eventually, introduce betta fish sorority; or I could finally try those cute ruby shrimp.

½ Truth, ½ Fiction 🐠 An Aquarium Story 🦐

I’m losing-my-mind excited about a third fish tank I bought on a “only 1 left in stock” steal. We’re adding a 20g tank to our aquariums (this one is a hexagon…!), so now we’ll be rocking:

5-gallon Minibow with the baby betta girl Yoko, who still needs her yellow submarine, and who I think is actually a baby betta boy, given the enormous fin this fish is cat-walking, as the clock ticks by, and the weeks pass,Also: while I planned to move her to the plant-growing 10g, (after we fix the leak) (provided it hasn’t worsened, being left outside in the rainy weather and all that laziness), Yoko currently seems super-happy with her 5g tank, so I’m inclined not to move her unless she becomes less active… Some people like smaller spaces than others, too, and messed up as it is, most bettas die in a Petco cup or live in a 1g vase with a weird-rooted plant. and she reveals her adult self…

10-gallon Aqueon Aquariumthat I’m thinking needs a chalkboard next to it with a regular maintenance schedule. The tank is currently underpopulated, but only slightly—This is my “original” tank, if we don’t count the Noah & the Flood incident, & it used to have the babies of my Petco bumblebee platy. I miss platies. I plan on populating the 20g hexagon with platies, but only after I fully plant the three tanks with proper plant lights, snails,…I want to make a paradise eco-system for my two (separate) bettas, my four danio, the albino dwarf pleco, & the crayfish couple, before we consider adopting our platies. Maybe we can get the platies as a wedding gift, after we adopt a cat from Lanai.we’re talking one danio shy of full, if the 1″-of-fish-per-gallon rule is true—with poster-child betta Benjamin Franklin, albino dwarf pleco Achilles, four GloFish-type danio I classify under one name, “the Fruit Loops,” and the snail infestation that moved in with that shit rock I threw away, which the assassin snails will make short work of, oh yes…

& 20-gallon filtered tank with a breeding pair of dwarf crayfish, and hopefully some Mickey Mouse livebearer platy, provided the dwarf crayfish are cool with it, and provided we want to add more fish in the summer, after our wedding, when we have the money to afford said platy.

Baby fish-tank steps, the wise women said. Patience. Build your lakes, your rivers and oceans, one fish and decorative at a time…a plant here, a bubbler there, month by month, day by day.

In addition to assassin snails, I found these devil-snailed shells that’ll be going into the 20-gallon tank, too. I’m keeping them away from the assassin snails. Who assassinate things. With snailpowers.

Lastly, we have substrate. And plants. I plan on picking up some bulbs from Petco to turn the substrate and plants into heavily planted beauties. Our living room will be the most beautiful sensory room imaginable, once I am done with my mad autistic plans.

In My Life Today 🙄 But Actually, Last Saturday 😫

It’s 1:20pm, & Marisol’s poetry reading is in 40 minutes. Madera is a 30-minute drive away. I’m not in the spirit of driving. I’m even more resistant to the idea of crowds. The social anxiety is strong.

I love my community very much. It’s just difficult to be part of large gatherings of people. I know this will pose a problem, when/if I have a book reading of my own; but that is still a ways away, & I am working on my social anxiety. In the meantime, we’ll still go to REI to get Chase his bicycle gloves, since the weather’s been cold… and I can’t respond to the social anxiety by simply not going outside…

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Published by Kourtnie

Kourtnie McKenzie holds an MFA (Fiction) from Fresno State and a BA in English (Literature Studies) from Cal State Fullerton. When she isn't writing novellas, she's moonlighting as a professor at Fresno City College and College of the Sequoias. To read more of her writing, visit en.gravatar.com/kourtnie.
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